We developed a new habit on our last trip, one where we stay in the hotel ordering room service, drink wine and playing music well into the night. Most of the hotels we stay in have a view we enjoy and we try to make sure we take the time to enjoy it. So from our ante-room we could see the Riad and the forts on the hill all lit up, We alway enjoy this. This time there was a ‘floor show’ of sorts also. Staying at the same location was someone who looks a bit like the actor Adam Grenier and every night he had a different woman with him. He had always the same routine with them, dinner in the restaurant, a little snogging some where in the Riad then of to his room. Like clockwork. We started to guess what his occupation was, Kim said he was a kept man who took other women on the side, I guessed he was a local who helped the ‘whispy model’ type I mentioned in the previous post have their Moroccan experience. Funny to watch. We also went across the rooftops of the Riads to see what we could see. There were many Weddings on this night, lots of music in the air. And Sydney slept thru it all…
We started the next day Meknes which is about an hour from Fez. There we saw the grand Bab Mansou gate, the Mausoleum of Moulay Ismail and an underground prison that ran under the city once held over 20,000 people. A real ‘Midnight Express’ type place, luckily it had been cleaned up a bit… After a quick lunch back in Fez we toured a local ceramics factory to see what the local artisans were up to. Sydney got to witness them fire up a kiln that was fueled with wood and olive pits. The pits are a cheap local source of fuel (almost free we were told) and the oil in them make a good fuel; in a demo the tossed a hand-full into the new fire and flame came shooting back.
Finally we managed to wear Kim and Sydney out so back to the Riad for them while Jamal (the guide) and Tom walked the olds sections of Fez just to see what we could see. A hugh variety of people to see, very rich on the eye. Jamal grew up in Fez and new many people and things to see. He said it had changed quite a bit, foreigners are buying up property and Riads that cost about $35k when he was young are now going for over a million US dollars and the result usually does not benefit the locals. Also pollution has gotten very bad and a river that he used to fish in is now essentially an acid bath due to the metal work in the city with no controls. Very bad. Still a great experience and a great workout. Want a new exercise? Try several circuits of the old city of Fez with lots of up and down paths and people and object dodging. You get a heck of a workout!
View of the Riad and Fez
Mausoleum of Moulay Ismail
Bab Mansour
A prison break!
Stacks of Olives
Palais Mnebhi, once a palace, now a resturant.
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